Mumbai rains: School bus drivers to shame BMC by snapping potholes

This time the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) will not wait till September to fight the problem of potholes on city roads

The road outside Kalwa station was waterlogged following heavy downpour early on Sunday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

This time the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) will not wait till September to fight the problem of potholes on Mumbai's roads.

It has already come up with an idea of starting a photo campaign, as part of which bus drivers have been instructed to take snapshots of potholes and send them to the association. The photographs will then be sent to the concerned ward officials for further action.

If the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) fails to address the issue like last year, then the association might stop plying the buses on pothole-ridden roads.

Also read - Mumbai rains: Are BMC engineers too busy to fix potholes?

During monsoon, potholes become a troublesome affair for school bus drivers, as they cannot change their routes. "We have started sending messages to all school bus drivers, asking them to click photographs of the potholes that fall on their way and send them immediately to SBOA. After we receive the pictures, we will send them to the concerned ward officials for further action," said Anil Garg, SBOA president.

Also read - BMC's unfulfilled promises: 168 roads yet to be repaired

A bus operator and vice president of SBOA, Ramesh Manian said, "Even if there is a lot of traffic, we cannot change our routes as children are picked up and dropped from specific locations. Hence, we face a lot of problems during monsoon due to poor condition of roads."

Also read - Mumbai: Western and Eastern Express Highways might not be pothole-free before rains

However, when contacted, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Sudhir Naik, said, "We haven’t yet received any complaints from SBOA regarding potholes. Whenever we receive any complaint, our team of technicians will immediately address it."

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